Long before they were boarding chartered flights in the big leagues, they were all boys on the bus.

The Calgary Flames were — like the rest of the hockey world — rocked by the gut-wrenching news of the Humboldt Broncos’ bus tragedy, with RCMP confirming 15 are dead and 14 more injured after Friday’s horrific highway crash in Saskatchewan.

The Junior A-level Broncos were en route to Nipawin for a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) playoff game when their bus collided with a semi-trailer.

“My first junior game was in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. So I’ve driven that road, just like those kids did,” said Flames forward Tanner Glass, who hails from Craven, Sask., and briefly suited up for the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. “It just gives you chills to think about. Our thoughts and our prayers and our hearts go out to those families.

“It’s truly heartbreaking. We’ve ridden those buses. We’ve been in those situations, on those cold snowy days on the prairies. It’s just really hard to think about.”

The Flames concluded a frustrating campaign with Saturday’s late date against the Vegas Golden Knights, but any talk about the regular-season finale was secondary after their morning skate at the Saddledome.

Calgary’s team captain, Mark Giordano characterized it as “a devastating day” and admitted it would be tough come game-time to “turn the switch and try not to think about what happened to those players and that team and that community.”

In the Flames’ locker-room, a recent photo of the Humboldt Broncos — all with matching blond hair as show of playoff unity — was displayed on the smart-board, with the words ‘Thoughts and Prayers.’ Standing in front of that image, superstar left-winger Johnny Gaudreau told reporters it was “a sad day for the whole hockey world.”

Head coach Glen Gulutzan was fighting back tears as he addressed the media.

There was a moment of silence prior to Saturday’s puck-drop at the Saddledome, with members of the Flames and Golden Knights forming a circle at centre-ice for a powerful pre-game tribute.

Nolan McKinnon, a nine-year-old minor-hockey skater from Strathmore, carried Saskatchewan’s flag as he led the locals onto the ice. Both teams were sporting Broncos decals on their helmets, while the Flames announced proceeds from the 50-50 draw would be donated to those affected by the tragedy.

“It hits home for a lot of people,” said Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic, who played his junior hockey with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL). “It’s just so sad — these hockey players, they’re trying to chase their dream and to have that happen … It’s hard. A lot of us have spent a lot, a lot, a lot of hours on buses and it’s a shame, it really is.”

Visibly shaken, Gulutzan opened his morning remarks with a correction of sorts.

“I said in Winnipeg that our season was ‘painful,’ and I would like to take that back,” said the Flames head coach and father of four from Hudson Bay, Sask. “I’m from that area, I played in that league and I just can’t imagine what the moms and the dads are going through. I saw the picture of the boys, and they’ve got their hair dyed and they’re just young guys …

“I just feel for the families. I feel for the moms and dads and the kids.”

At about 7 a.m. on Saturday, Gulutzan was on the phone with Edmonton Oilers bench boss Todd McLellan, two lads from Saskatchewan trying to figure out how they might be able to help. Both would have been teenagers when a bus accident killed four members of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos just days after Christmas in 1986, another incident that left the province and the hockey community reeling.

“It’s an absolutely awful, terrifying situation. I’m hoping one day, maybe, my kid will be riding buses as well, and it makes you sick to your stomach that something can happen,” said Flames alternate captain Troy Brouwer, who spent five winters in Moose Jaw with the WHL’s Warriors. “There’s nothing you can do or say that is going to make people feel better that are directly involved in the situation. But you try to do what you can and make sure there is support. You saw an overwhelming outpouring of response and well-wishes in the hockey community.

“It’s just an awful, awful thing that happened. All we can do is hope that the guys who are still fighting are able to pull through.”

The Flames haven’t enjoyed much on-ice success in the past few weeks as they plummeted out of playoff contention, but Friday’s tragedy provides a shot of perspective.

“My wife was in tears last night,” said defenceman Michael Stone, who criss-crossed the prairies for four seasons with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. “It’s just a horrible thing that is so much bigger than the game we play here. It makes you think about that.”

It makes them think, too, about their own road to hockey’s highest level.

As they climbed the ranks, these guys logged countless kilometres on bus-trips from one town to another, one rink to the next.

Even today, that’s how they roll from airport to hotel, hotel to arena and eventually back to the airport to jet off again.

Fans pay tribute to the Humboldt Broncos at Saturday’s game between the Flames and the Vegas Golden Knights.Larry MacDougal / The Canadian Press

“You’ve been on that bus countless times, and the last thing going through your mind is that those might be your last minutes,” Glass said. “You’re hanging out with friends, sharing jokes and preparing for a big game. And the next thing you know, it’s over. It’s really, really tough.”

Echoed Hamonic, reminiscing about those many hours on the road as a teenage puck prospect: “That’s kind of where you build your camaraderie as a team, to be honest, when you’re on a 12-hour bus ride and really getting to know one another. It seems like a bus is always tied to junior hockey. I have a lot of great memories of times spent on buses, and you never really have that in the back of your mind …

“When it happened in Swift Current all those years ago, that was terrible,” he continued. “And to go that many years and nothing happens, and then you hear about (Friday) and your heart sinks, your stomach sinks. You feel like you have a massive pit. I couldn’t imagine what those families, getting those calls, have to go through.”

There was a sombre mood Saturday at the Saddledome, but Gulutzan urged his skating stars to honour the Broncos by going back to their roots.

“I told our guys, ‘We’re playing for the purity of the game, for the love of the game tonight.’ That’s how we all grew up,” Gulutzan said. “Our locker-room was very quiet today. It hits the hockey world hard, but I said, ‘We’re playing for the love of the game.’ I’m sure those families, kids, they were playing for the same reason.”

Indeed, they were.

As Gaudreau put it: “That’s what they would have done (Friday) night.”

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